Sanitary water fountain and cooler.



N0. 690,896. Patented Ian. 7, I902.

- 8.. S. SHEARS.

SANITARY WATER FOUNTAIN AND CI'IIJLER.

(Applicationflled Oct. 24, 1899J (No Mpd a1.)

THE aims PETERS co. Pnorouma, WASHINGTON, o. c.

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Patient rrrcni SIDNEY SUMNER SHEARS, OF NEWV YORK, N. Y.

SANITARY WATER FOUNTABN AND COOLER.

SPEGIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent N0. 690,896, dated January7, 1902 Application filed October 24, 1899. Serial No. 784,629. (Nomodel.)

.To aZZ, whmn it may concern.-

Be it known that I,SIDNEY SUMNER SHEARS, a citizen of the United States,residing at the borough of Manhattan, in the city of New York, county ofNew York, and State of New York, have invented a new and useful SanitaryWater Fountain and Cooler, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in water fountains and coolers, andparticularly to devices for easily emptying portable vessels containingdrinking-water and other liquids, for cooling the same, for changing orsubstituting the portable vessels, for protecting the water or otherliquid from contamination by dirt or by germ infection, for economizingice or whatever othen cooling medium may be used, and also foreconomizing time and labor in the whole operation. I attain theseobjects by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, inwhich-- Figure 1 is a part elevation and a part vertical sectional viewof the entire apparatus, and Figs. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 are detailviews.

Similar letters relate to similar parts throughout the several views.

The primary source of the water-supply, which preferably consists ofdistilled or other pure water, is a demijohn D of suitable size, whichfor convenient handling purposes and for protection is covered by acrating 0, consisting of open rattan-work surrounding and secured to thedemijohn and preferably supplied with a Wooden bottom E, one function ofwhich is to act as a non-conductor to prevent or check the transfer ofheat between the demijohn and its contents on the one side and thecooling-chamber or ice-box 0 on the other through its cover '1, on thetop of which the demijohn D is made to rest. The coolingchamber 0 isdouble and provided with a removable non-conducting top T andnon-conducting bottom and sides S,all of which may be madenon-conducting by packing charcoal or other non-conducting materialbetween the inner and outer sheet-metal walls or by any other usualmeans. The cooling-chamber O is preferably separable from and made torest on any usual support or stand constructed like the stand A or inany other suitable manner.

The cooiing-chamber O is provided with a protected drip-tube U in thebottom, and also with a coil of block-tin pipe P, placed in the bottomof the cooling-chamber and provided at the outer end, where it extendsthrough and beyond the walls of the cooling-chamber, with any ordinarycock or valve L for permitting or preventing the escape of the wa ter,and at the other end is connected with the long-leg portion P of asiphon Y, the short leg P of which enters and reaches the bottom of thedemijohn, as shown, passing through a cork K, which closes the mouth ofthe demi john, through which cork also passes a pipe P connected at itsouter end with an ordinary syringe-bulb B. The syringe-bulb isconstructed in any ordinary way, except that it has or may have,inclosed in a wire netting, a suflicient quantity of antisepticizedcotton or other like antisepticized material to sift and purify theentering air on its way to the cat-boy D and forming a strainer M. Theantisepticized cotton or other strainer material may be changed fromtime to time.

Located as shown the air entering and forced out of the bulb iscompelled to pass through the antisepticized material and is sifted andantisepticized in the operation, so that the air entering the demijohnis free from dust and other particles and in a thoroughlyantisepticizedcondition. The cork K is preferably tapered or may be changed for a corkof a difierent size to accommodate differentsized demijohns.

To prepare for operating the device, it is necessary to place thedemijohn D on top of the cooler 0, remove the original stopper, andinsert the stopper or cork K, carrying the siphon-pipe Y and thebulb-pipe P so as to make the demijohn air-tight. On connecting the pipeP with the'pipe P at and by the union J the next step is to operate thebulb, and thereby force air into the top of the demijohn D untilsufficient pressure is thereby produced upon the top surface of thewater to force and lift the water in the short leg P of the siphon overthe summit of the siphon in sufficient quantity to fill the long leg Pand the coil P, whereupon the water will flow from the cock L whenopened without further operatin g the bulb, unless a greater pressureand stronger flow are required,when the bulb may be pressed at any timeto increase the pressure and accelerate the flow until the entirecontents of the dcmijohn have been siphoned out.

Before placing the demijohn in position the ice or cooling medium is ofcourse to be placed in the cooler, resting upon the coil P in the bottomof the cooler and in position to cool the water contained in the pipe P.When the cool water is drawn off by opening the cock L, an additionalsupply of water follows into the coil and becomes cooled in turn as itlies therein or is passing through the coil, which is partly or entirelycovered with the water of the melted ice.

Fig. 6 shows another outlet and terminal 0 of the long leg P of thesiphon, which may be used together with the demijohn D, the bulb withits connections, and the siphon to empty the contents of the demijohn inany other position at any time and independently-as, for instance, thedemijohn may be set upon a table or other support, in a tub containingice, or in any sufficientlyelevated refrigerator of any kindin whichposition, instead of being compelled to handle the heavy demijohn inorder to decant or remove its contents, the contents may be removed inthe same way through the outlet 0, the long leg of the siphon beingdisconnected and then plugged or corked at the union J, and the outletof that part of the long leg of the siphon being closed by a cork, plug,or any other usual form of closure the part 0 will become part of thelong leg of the siphon and help empty the demijohn independently of thestand or coolerthat is to say, the demijohn with its siphon and bulb inposition may be used entirely independent of the cooler or the stand andthe contents of the demijohn decanted and utilized in the way described.

For convenience in case the demijohn is to be at any time removed beforeit is empty I prefer to locate a small petcock L just above the union J,to be closed temporarily at any time in order to prevent the escape ofthe water. This petcock may be used as a closure instead of a cork whenthe extension 0 is used to draw off the contents of the demijohn, butmust be opened or left open when it is desired to draw water from thecock L.

To avoid the necessity for disconnecting at the joint J andremoving andreturning the demijohn D to position and making the connection anewwhenever the ice is required to be renewed in the cooler, instead ofmaking the top T in one piece I make one side T of the top T-sayone-third, more or less-in a separate piece, but hinged to the otherpart of the top T, as shown in Fig. 7 in sectional View.

Arranged in this way the demijohn D may be moved to one side far enoughto allow the movable part T of the cover to be lifted to make an openingthrough which the ice may be placed in the bottom of the cooler and thecooler may be cleaned.

'lhe stopper K of the demijohn may be made of cork, or preferably ofsoft india-rubber, so

as to permit the two pipes or tubes that pass therethrough to be movedwithout permanently opening the airtight joint that should be formedbetween the outside surface of the pipes and the adjacent surfaces ofthe stopper through which they pass.

I claim as my invention 1. In a portable water tank and cooler thefollowing elements in combination: a portable receptacle for waterprovided with an inlet and outlet opening at the top; a siphonpipe, theshort leg of which passes through the inlet cork or stopper, and thelong leg of which extends outside of the receptacle; a rubber air-bulbhaving antisepticizing material located in the bulb and also a pipeconnection passing through theinletcork orstopper of the receptacle;andasupportsupporting an ice-box or refrigerating-chamber containing acoil of pipe detachably connected with the long leg of the siphon-pipeand extending through and out of the chamber and having a terminal cock,on or over which refrigerating-chamber the portable receptacle is placedand supported, substantially as shown and described.

2.- In a portable water tank and cooler the following elements incombination: a portable receptacle for water provided with an inlet andoutlet opening at the top; a siphonpipe, the short leg of which passesthrough the inlet cork or stopper, and the long leg of which extendsoutside of the receptacle and is provided with a branch outlet and cook;a rubber bulb having antisepticizing material located in the bulb andalso a pipe connection passing through the inlet cork or stopper of thereceptacle; and a support supporting an ice-box or refrigerating-chambercontaining a coil of pipe detachably connected. with the long leg of thesiphon-pipe and extending through and out of the chamber and having aterminal cock, on or over which refrigerating-chamber the portablereceptacle is placed and supported, substantially as shown anddescribed.

SIDNEY SUMNER SHEARS.

Witnesses:

EDWARD S. BERRALL, JAMES A. SKILTON.

